[Dixielandjazz] Re: Strange Gig

[Bob Loomis]

   In 1966 after years of not playing, I dipped
my toes back into the waters of music, playing
electric bass very briefly with a local outfit,
the Bonifistachio Street Blues Band. I was so
green I didn't even know what a blues bass line
was!
   We played a wedding at which the bride and
groom and most of their local friends were
hippies. The groom's family was from the SF Bay
Area, so they knew what the deal was, but the
bride's family and some of her friends were from
the Midwest. I think the latter were somewhat
flabbergasted by the scene:
   The Church of Universal Life minister (you got
ordained for $5 by mail) was in coveralls and
many at the wedding were in typical hippie garb
and hair. The minister smoked funny cigarets with
some of his pals before the service and when it
began, he simply said "Well, Judy and Bill have
decided to get married and there's not much we
can add to that, so I now pronounce them man and
wife!"
   With that our band broke into "Red House
Blues" to the stunned amazement of many. We
played a set of blues and that was it ... we had
an eight piece band crammed into a tiny gazebo
and trying to avoid knocking each other around
...
   I've played some strange gigs (one of them a
grand opening for a Jack In the Box restaurant),
but I think that one was the strangest, all in
all.

Bob Loomis
Concord CA


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